(Day 373) The End of the JET Program: What's so great about Aomori?

So. Just 1 week and 1 day ago, I officially completed my contract with the JET Program that began just over a year ago.

Leaving is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I learned to love so many things about my placement in Aomori including its dialect, scenery, music, and handmade crafts. Most of all though, the thing making my departure so difficult was the children that I helped teach. It's hard to believe that just over a year ago I arrived here because time went by so fast. It's also hard to believe how much there is to Aomori City besides snow, the Nebuta Festival, and apples.

To list a few of the specialties of Aomori and Aomori-ken, here's a short list of my discoveries.

1. Winters of Never ending snow. I learned to love this - granted this past winter was supposedly a relatively mild one. What's great about Aomori's snow is that, while you do get a WHOLE LOT OF IT, it's not really cold enough to freeze over for the most part, and since it continuously snows, there's enough traction for you not to fall - but  you still can't be careless. What's more is that winter is great for several reasons.
1. Winter Sports like snowshoeing, skiing, and snowboarding. Aomori had a lot to offer in terms of places to go for these things, but I only ever got around to going snowboarding once at a place called Moya Hills.
2. Nabe (pronounced Nah-beh), which is basically hot pot cooking style. sukiyaki and shabu-shabu are both examples of Nabe. It's great to do with friends around a heated table called a...
3. Kotatsu! I loved my Kotatsu. I slept under it on many winter nights - on workdays and weekends! It's an electrically-heated table with a 2 layered tabletop. The top layer's removable so that you can put a thick blanket between the layers in order to have a nice, warm, enclosed area for your lower body. 
4. ONSEN. I love onsen. That love stems from it being my savior from the winter cold. The onsen that I frequented was called machinaka onsen. It wasn't anything special, but it was an easy busy ride that took less than 10 minutes and required no transfers. Even on hot / normal days, onsen is great because it really refreshes/ relaxes the body, but imagine if you will - a blizzard's going on. you're hiding yourself from the cold by wearing 2-3 layers and a heavy jacket on top of that. It's windy. It's snowy. It's cold. THEN you reach the onsen and submerge yourself in a hot bath that's even warmer than jacoozis back home. ON TOP OF THAT, you can submerge yourself into a hot bath that's OUTDOORS. in the cold. The sharp contrast of the super cold/snowy weather and the steaming hot onsen make for an interesting feeling, but it is definitely enjoyable. I remember one time, that at a further but nicer onsen called gokurakuyu, which was more of a spa, I went to the open-air bath (露天風呂;rotenburo), and after just a minute or two, our hair was frozen solid as if it was gelled, but I was super warm because of the bath.
5. FOOT BATHS. In the actual city of Aomori, there weren't any foot baths, but after an ~25 train ride east to a onsen resort town called Asamushi, there were a few of them that were easily accessible. I knew of two - one was right outside the station - like LITERALLY in the parking lot. The other was an 8 minute walk away and included a station where you could soft-boil eggs in onsen water (called onsen tamago) and another station where you could drink a small bit of the actual onsen water that smelt of egg (aka sulfur).
2. Delicious delicious regional food specialties besides apples that include but are not limited by:
1. scallops (raw or grilled in its own shell. Other products include Scallop ice cream, which is tried, but isn't really widespread as something tasty)
2. black garlic (takko-machi - sister cities with our very own Gilroy. Foods with garlic include Garlic Ramen, Garlic Soysauce, Garlic Soda etc.)
3. Black Currant (or Cassis, Products include Cassis Jam, Cassis Icecream)
4. sea urchin
5. the world's most expensive tuna (oma-machi)
6. Aomori's Niboshi Ramen (Ramen whose broth comes from dried sardines)
7. Aomori's Miso-Curry-Milk-Butter Ramen (probably more of a Hokkaido thing, but rare nonetheless)
8. Aomori's Nokkedon (super fresh build-it-yourself sashimi rice bowl), and more. In terms of fame, though, SCALLOPS are right behind apples, and I was also able to go scallop fishing at one restaurant in the city.
3. The DROP DEAD gorgeous scenery. Depending on where you are in the city, you may not get the whole trinity which include vibrant green rice fields (in summer), lush tree-covered mountains, and a blue bay with a clear enough view you can see the coastline opposite of where you are. LUCKILY I was fortunate enough to have schools that were all along the west side of Aomori Bay's coast. My furthest schools were so removed from the city and so far up the coast, that I would be forced to take a picture of the scenery every time I visited them.
4. The handicrafts. Aomori is famous for a handful of different handicrafts. It hasn't made nationwide fame, because the laquerware, for example, is too expensive to really be marketable to the masses (or so I've heard), but they're still a sight to behold and you seriously ought to buy some of this if you ever visit.
1. Tsugaru-nuri (Tsugaru Laquerware. Read this for more info http://japan-brand.jnto.go.jp/crafts/lacquer_ware/6/) - This may come in the form of dessert plates, lunch boxes, pens, tea leaf containers, etc., but it most commonly comes in the form of chopsticks that cost around 2000 yen. It's a kind of laquerware that has abstract designs and takes over a MONTH to complete since they paint on layer by layer. There are three types of tsugaru-nuri. If I recall correctly, the most famous and most common is kara-nuri. Without a photo, I think I'd best describe the pattern as abstract and speckled. I was able to get a few Tsugaru-nuri as going away gifts from my generous Board of Education, and actually got these beautiful dark blue ones from the school clerks in one of my elementary schools! (Thanks Masato-san and Mirorin-san)
2. Kogin Embriodery - An embriodery that originates from Hirosaki, a city about 45 minutes from Aomori by train. I've seen it mostly in diamond shaped patterns and includes products like cloth coasters, and hanko cases (aka your personal steal stamp for official documents).
3. Tsugaru Bidoro - it's a beautiful glass style whose products typically seem to include glass cups with beautiful colorful speckles at the base.
4. Aomori Hiba Pine Products - Aomori hiba pine is Aomori's prefectural tree (or city tree) and its mountains are chocked full of 'em. It's not as widespread in the prefecture or popular, but it's quite easy to run into a gift shop offering hiba cuttingboards, hiba-derived beauty products, these aromatic wooden hiba spheres that are probably used for the bath, and may even include hiba wardrobes, but I've never seen that in a gift store or any store for that matter.
5. It's underadvertised sightseeings spots including:
1. Summer / autumn's tanbo art (detailed, intricate rice field art made out of different kinds of rice that depict a scene) in Inakadate Village
2. oirase gorge (beautiful valley creek leading to the equally beautiful Lake Towada known for it's autumn foliage and also snow festival) in Towada City.
3. Hirosaki Castle (a city known for its cherry blossom viewing scenes in Spring) in Hirosaki City.
4. etc. etc. including onsen, world heritage sites, beautiful unique-looking cliff formations (just comment if you'd like to know more.)
6. The dialect which I have a whole section of my blog about. It's TOTALLY different form standard Japanese.

The list goes on. I'll also go ahead and plug in this brand new anime that is actually BASED in Aomori, and includes many different aspects of Aomori culture including the dialect, lifestyle, scenes, etc. http://gogoanime.io/category/flying-witch

This was supposed to be a plug about me reflecting about my goodbyes at the end of my term, but that'll have to be saved until another post. I will make sure to write more soon. Hopefully this was informational though. :)

(Day 373) The End of the JET Program: What's so great about Aomori?

So. Just 1 week and 1 day ago, I officially completed my contract with the JET Program that began just over a year ago.

Leaving is definitely a bittersweet feeling. I learned to love so many things about my placement in Aomori including its dialect, scenery, music, and handmade crafts. Most of all though, the thing making my departure so difficult was the children that I helped teach. It's hard to believe that just over a year ago I arrived here because time went by so fast. It's also hard to believe how much there is to Aomori City besides snow, the Nebuta Festival, and apples.

To list a few of the specialties of Aomori and Aomori-ken, here's a short list of my discoveries.

1. Winters of Never ending snow. I learned to love this - granted this past winter was supposedly a relatively mild one. What's great about Aomori's snow is that, while you do get a WHOLE LOT OF IT, it's not really cold enough to freeze over for the most part, and since it continuously snows, there's enough traction for you not to fall - but  you still can't be careless. What's more is that winter is great for several reasons.
1. Winter Sports like snowshoeing, skiing, and snowboarding. Aomori had a lot to offer in terms of places to go for these things, but I only ever got around to going snowboarding once at a place called Moya Hills.
2. Nabe (pronounced Nah-beh), which is basically hot pot cooking style. sukiyaki and shabu-shabu are both examples of Nabe. It's great to do with friends around a heated table called a...
3. Kotatsu! I loved my Kotatsu. I slept under it on many winter nights - on workdays and weekends! It's an electrically-heated table with a 2 layered tabletop. The top layer's removable so that you can put a thick blanket between the layers in order to have a nice, warm, enclosed area for your lower body. 
4. ONSEN. I love onsen. That love stems from it being my savior from the winter cold. The onsen that I frequented was called machinaka onsen. It wasn't anything special, but it was an easy busy ride that took less than 10 minutes and required no transfers. Even on hot / normal days, onsen is great because it really refreshes/ relaxes the body, but imagine if you will - a blizzard's going on. you're hiding yourself from the cold by wearing 2-3 layers and a heavy jacket on top of that. It's windy. It's snowy. It's cold. THEN you reach the onsen and submerge yourself in a hot bath that's even warmer than jacoozis back home. ON TOP OF THAT, you can submerge yourself into a hot bath that's OUTDOORS. in the cold. The sharp contrast of the super cold/snowy weather and the steaming hot onsen make for an interesting feeling, but it is definitely enjoyable. I remember one time, that at a further but nicer onsen called gokurakuyu, which was more of a spa, I went to the open-air bath (露天風呂;rotenburo), and after just a minute or two, our hair was frozen solid as if it was gelled, but I was super warm because of the bath.
5. FOOT BATHS. In the actual city of Aomori, there weren't any foot baths, but after an ~25 train ride east to a onsen resort town called Asamushi, there were a few of them that were easily accessible. I knew of two - one was right outside the station - like LITERALLY in the parking lot. The other was an 8 minute walk away and included a station where you could soft-boil eggs in onsen water (called onsen tamago) and another station where you could drink a small bit of the actual onsen water that smelt of egg (aka sulfur).
2. Delicious delicious regional food specialties besides apples that include but are not limited by:
1. scallops (raw or grilled in its own shell. Other products include Scallop ice cream, which is tried, but isn't really widespread as something tasty)
2. black garlic (takko-machi - sister cities with our very own Gilroy. Foods with garlic include Garlic Ramen, Garlic Soysauce, Garlic Soda etc.)
3. Black Currant (or Cassis, Products include Cassis Jam, Cassis Icecream)
4. sea urchin
5. the world's most expensive tuna (oma-machi)
6. Aomori's Niboshi Ramen (Ramen whose broth comes from dried sardines)
7. Aomori's Miso-Curry-Milk-Butter Ramen (probably more of a Hokkaido thing, but rare nonetheless)
8. Aomori's Nokkedon (super fresh build-it-yourself sashimi rice bowl), and more. In terms of fame, though, SCALLOPS are right behind apples, and I was also able to go scallop fishing at one restaurant in the city.
3. The DROP DEAD gorgeous scenery. Depending on where you are in the city, you may not get the whole trinity which include vibrant green rice fields (in summer), lush tree-covered mountains, and a blue bay with a clear enough view you can see the coastline opposite of where you are. LUCKILY I was fortunate enough to have schools that were all along the west side of Aomori Bay's coast. My furthest schools were so removed from the city and so far up the coast, that I would be forced to take a picture of the scenery every time I visited them.
4. The handicrafts. Aomori is famous for a handful of different handicrafts. It hasn't made nationwide fame, because the laquerware, for example, is too expensive to really be marketable to the masses (or so I've heard), but they're still a sight to behold and you seriously ought to buy some of this if you ever visit.
1. Tsugaru-nuri (Tsugaru Laquerware. Read this for more info http://japan-brand.jnto.go.jp/crafts/lacquer_ware/6/) - This may come in the form of dessert plates, lunch boxes, pens, tea leaf containers, etc., but it most commonly comes in the form of chopsticks that cost around 2000 yen. It's a kind of laquerware that has abstract designs and takes over a MONTH to complete since they paint on layer by layer. There are three types of tsugaru-nuri. If I recall correctly, the most famous and most common is kara-nuri. Without a photo, I think I'd best describe the pattern as abstract and speckled. I was able to get a few Tsugaru-nuri as going away gifts from my generous Board of Education, and actually got these beautiful dark blue ones from the school clerks in one of my elementary schools! (Thanks Masato-san and Mirorin-san)
2. Kogin Embriodery - An embriodery that originates from Hirosaki, a city about 45 minutes from Aomori by train. I've seen it mostly in diamond shaped patterns and includes products like cloth coasters, and hanko cases (aka your personal steal stamp for official documents).
3. Tsugaru Bidoro - it's a beautiful glass style whose products typically seem to include glass cups with beautiful colorful speckles at the base.
4. Aomori Hiba Pine Products - Aomori hiba pine is Aomori's prefectural tree (or city tree) and its mountains are chocked full of 'em. It's not as widespread in the prefecture or popular, but it's quite easy to run into a gift shop offering hiba cuttingboards, hiba-derived beauty products, these aromatic wooden hiba spheres that are probably used for the bath, and may even include hiba wardrobes, but I've never seen that in a gift store or any store for that matter.
5. It's underadvertised sightseeings spots including:
1. Summer / autumn's tanbo art (detailed, intricate rice field art made out of different kinds of rice that depict a scene) in Inakadate Village
2. oirase gorge (beautiful valley creek leading to the equally beautiful Lake Towada known for it's autumn foliage and also snow festival) in Towada City.
3. Hirosaki Castle (a city known for its cherry blossom viewing scenes in Spring) in Hirosaki City.
4. etc. etc. including onsen, world heritage sites, beautiful unique-looking cliff formations (just comment if you'd like to know more.)
6. The dialect which I have a whole section of my blog about. It's TOTALLY different form standard Japanese.

The list goes on. I'll also go ahead and plug in this brand new anime that is actually BASED in Aomori, and includes many different aspects of Aomori culture including the dialect, lifestyle, scenes, etc. http://gogoanime.io/category/flying-witch

This was supposed to be a plug about me reflecting about my goodbyes at the end of my term, but that'll have to be saved until another post. I will make sure to write more soon. Hopefully this was informational though. :)

(63 Days Until the End of JET) Undoukai Pt. 2 - The Enkai

... this is a continuation of the previous post. Apparently I had too much to write.

Anyways, as I write this I'm back at my base school. It's been only 3 days since the undoukai and enkai and I feel like the environment's a little more laid back. The undoukai was on a Saturday, and the school gets 2 days to recover, so Monday was their day off. It's 8:51AM right now on Tuesday, May 31st.

I think I may have mentioned this on my previous post as well, but in preparation of the enkai, the teachers woke up SUPER early, and got to school at around 5:00-5:30AM to put up the tends and in general prepare for the festival. Even after that, they had to manage the actual festival. After THAT was the enkai that was from 6:30-8:30PM.

I'll be honest, I felt super tense at first since I've only been to a couple enkais with them and they've made me make a speech in Japanese once before. Also, the office environment until now hasn't been too cordial. They'd always speak in Japanese, wouldn't often acknowledge me nor talk to me so there would be some days where I didn't know what I was doing and would be at my desk alone doing nothing. HOWEVER, once we got some alcohol in our systems we all loosened up.

We went to a place called 「ラ・プラス青い森」and the charge was different for each people. My guess as to why that was is that the teachers at the school feed some of their paycheck into an enkai fund, and I don't. So, while some teachers paid ¥2,000, I paid ¥3,800... even though he initially asked for ¥4,000. I didn't question it, anyways. There was a special campaign going on, so that's why the price was so low. On top of the nomihoudai (ENG: all-you-can-drink) there was a all-you-can-eat (JPN: tabehoudai) "Viking" style, which basically means buffet self-serve. The food was was pretty good and consisted of indian curry, half-stale naan, gobo root salad, potato salad, french fries, pizza, and other simple buffet foods.

At the start, a teacher pointed me into the direction of the food, so I went and made myself a plate. Turns out, he was probably telling me to make a plate for the entire table because after I came back with my own plate, others came with a plate full of a single item and people started taking from it. My fear was confirmed after a slightly drunk teacher mentioned in Japanese that since I'm young, I should be bringing food to the table for them, and so I apologized and did so. I know some people might have a problem with this, but I didn't. I didn't even realize it was a rule that I was breaking, and I wanted to be kind and give a good impression, so personally I felt there was no problem with this request. I brought over a plate of na'an and a bowl of curry, and also got 2 more plates and handed them to other parts of the table as well.

Reflecting on that Japanese etiquette point, serving food is in the same boat as another point where junior or younger members of a company goes around and refills the older or more senior members drink. Some might find this patronizing, but I think it's actually quite respectful. What better way to show your respect for a person than to pour their drink (and make sure they never stop drinking their beer, hehe.) TAKE NOTES ON THIS POINT NEWBIES... that is, if any JET newbies read my post. They probably don't. I write this mostly for me to be nostalgic in a few months or years, but ANYWAYS I DIGRESS. :)

So, after I got their drinks, the night progressed and after about 3-4 drinks the folks I was sitting near were already quite drunk.  I wasn't drunk yet, though. If you recall, the teachers woke up around 5:00AM so some of them were entering into this "sleepy" drunk phase. The base ball coach and I were previously talking about MLB, NBA, and Japanese baseball. Before nodding off, he told me that he likes the Mariners because of a famous Japanese pitcher (and probably the former Mariner, Ichiro) and that he also likes the American Football team, the Dallas Cowboys.

Once everyone was drunk, I started getting visits by some of my other teachers. First came my 1st year teacher who really flattered me by saying that I was one of the best ALTs that he's had and was bummed that I was leaving. I was definitely shocked by this statement as I felt that I haven't really done anything to deserve this compliment. My 1st year JTE transferred to my base school just this year, and he's a really cool, competent teacher, but is a bit shy. His English is super good and he always strives to find ways to be a better teacher. Regardless, just like all the other teachers, he doesn't really talk to me while in the teacher's room and doesn't ask me to prepare anything in advance so I was thrown off by this statement and covered my face in shame because I felt bad that I was leaving them.

Following my 1st year JTEs visit, my 2nd year JTE came (who is also my Vice Principal) and sat in the open chair next to me. He hasn't really done this in any of the other enkais so I could tell that he was in the "happy" drunk. He is a good guy, and good teacher, but he is always very busy since he's not only an English teacher, but also the Vice Principal. The Vice Principal is many times more busy than the actual Principal.While the Principal is mainly a figurehead, the vice Principal has his boots on the ground and does the real work.

Anyways, he mentioned about his experience with the first ALT he's ever had - how she was a woman from the U.K. and how she gave the teacher looks when he slurped his noodles, which is a cultural tidbit of Japan that shows that you're enjoying your meal. In Western culturals, though, slurping is generally rude as it shows that you're being messy with your food.

He then complimented me on my role as an ALT and said that I was a very kind person and that the students like me. He said that if the students like the ALT, they will like English too. He was also bummed that I was leaving as he thought that I was a good ALT, and told the other teachers, in Japanese, that I was leaving too since many of them didn't know. A few of them let out an "eeeeeeeeeeh" which would be comparable to "WHAAAAAAT?!?" in English. One of the few teachers who reacted was the janitor, with whom I sometimes ride the bus. He doesn't speak that much English, but like every other Japanese person, he could understand it fairly well. SO. I felt pretty bummed out again and covered my face in drunken shame.

As for drinks, I think that the teacher's were pretty good after 3-5 beers, but I had 2 glasses of beers, 1 glass of umeshuu and a small bottle of the hotel's nihonshuu, which didn't taste good, but didn't taste great either.

As the night went on, my Vice Principal and I talked more and he asked what I was going to do after I returned to the U.S. I let him know that I wanted to work for a micro-loan company in order to help push a mission of helping those less fortunate to bring themselves out of poverty on an international level. Following the explanation, he asked me if I could do a "My Dream" speech on the last class with the students. Apparently there's some "thing" in Sendai and he wants to 1) Record my presentation and 2) Present it to the conference he's going to. We were both drunk, maybe that's why he asked, but I told him that if the video is good or if I do a good job, he can show it, but it'll probably be not so good.

By 8:30 our enkai finished, and as expected only about 4 of the ~20ish people who went were able to go to the nijikai, which is basically the 2nd party or afterparty in English. The other teachers were way too exhausted to do anything else. Unfortunately, I did leave without saying goodbye to the other teachers since the principal was leaving to the next place.

So, after the official enkai went to a place called honcho, which is a district in Aomori-city known for its numerous bars, snack bars, and other "red-light" type establishments. My Vice Principal took us to a place called 「のら」. Turns out, he frequents that place and turns out that it's actually a snack bar.

For those who don't know, a snack bar is a small establishment that serves alcohol and is usually run by women. The oldest and owner of the bar is called the mama. Basically, how this works is that the women chat with you while you drink and refill your drink when it's empty. By having a conversation with you, the mama hopes you become inclined to buy more drinks and talk more. The place was run by only 2 women and one was the owner. She chatted with us for a little bit, but then talked with others who entered the bar. We were in a group anyway with nomihoudai so it really didn't matter if she talked to us or not. To put the size into perspective, the bar was probably the size of a small bedroom....so imagine a dimly lit small bedroom with a bar table spanning across it, and a TV in the corner for karaoke. That was basically the bar. We kept drinking and the principal was giving me recommendations for places to eat.

I thought it was funny because the principal actually called one place up (Keep in mind this is like 11:~~PM) and asked them if I can go. They told him that even if the establishment is closed, just tell the principal and he'll let them know I'm coming. Therefore, I can go whenever - even on their holiday. I forget the other bits of conversation, but it was all pretty fun. One teacher asked why I was interested in Japan and why I came, and another one talked about some juicy drama that happened in the past involving an ALT.

I got to my limit of alcohol at the nijikai and at around 11:30PM, we went home. I walked with one of the teachers to the previous location we were at, which is where I parked my bike and started walking my bike home. After sobering up (just a little) I rode my bike home.

When I got home, I felt kiiinda sick. I felt nauseated for a while, but I never threw up, and I think I fell asleep in the living room or something because I woke up at 3:00AM to move to my bed.

I never drink enough water, but I really should. Still, it was a really fun night and I got to hear a lot from my teachers that I otherwise wouldn't be able to talk to.

I'm glad that the teachers think highly of me, but I still feel like I'm not doing as much as I could be doing. After I have classes, I have nothing to really do (hence this blog) and when I do have class, it's usually a quite simple job (i.e. repeating words, walking around to check spelling/grammar, etc.). There are a few ideas that I have in mind, but I only have 1.5 months left before summer break begins to put it into action.

I want to
1) Setup a sort of pen-pal letter writing project so that I can keep in touch with students who are really passionate about English
2) Have a kaiwa or conversation time during lunch break
3) Have them keep a journal, and when I have school visits, I can respond to their entries.

I don't think it's enough time, and in hindsight, I feel like 1 year almost isn't enough time either. I'm not saying I regret my decision - I think my time can still be used better in the states - but I wish that I had more time to get to know my students better on an individual leve, and put into action the ideas that I had for them. It only really feels like just now I'm breaking the barriers that I had with my base school, and that I'm also getting to know my students better, but there's nothing I can really do about it so I will just have to make the best of the time I have left.

(65 Days Until the End of JET) Undoukai Pt. 1

After each enkai, or work party, I feel that I become a bit closer to my co-workers. Unfortunately, there have only been probably a total of 3 enkais that I've been invited to / have gone to. Just yesterday (May 28th), I attended my base school's undoukai, which may be roughly translated to Sports Festival, or a sort of sports day.

Due to privacy of students and their families, I can't post the pictures I took of the students, but it was really interesting. I'll describe it for you in this post. Afterwards, I wanted to reflect a little bit about how fast this year has gone, my co-worker's impressions of me throughout this year, and surprisingly to me, how shocked they were to hear that I was leaving.

So lets go ahead and start with the undoukai!

Anyways, just like anything in Japan, the opening ceremony was very orderly. The undoukai took place on the field in front of the school. It wasn't a field of grass, but rather one of sand or dirt. They had prepared it ahead of time by using some sort of chalk cart to draw lines for the track around the perimeter of the field. Families were encircled around the field on the small strip of grass that surrounded it. I sat under a tent that was prepared ahead of time by the teachers as well. (During the enkai I was told that they started preparations at around 5:00-5:30AM. One teacher, Yamanaka (I think?), said that he woke up at 2:30AM with a strained and crazy look on his face, looking exhausted).

There wasn't any dress code, and I made sure of it with some other ALTs, so I came to school by bus and dressed in cargo shorts and T-shirt. The other teachers wore goofy T-shirts with the colors of the teams that they represented. There were 3 teams - Red, White, and Green. This is one of those events where there really isn't a dress code. We'd be expected to use common sense and not wear anything too revealing, but we didn't need to be extremely conservative either. Low stress. The three teams made up the student body. Each team had an approximately equal number of students from each grade so it was made up of 1st years, 2nd years, and 3rd years.

ANYWAYS. With that image of the field in mind, let's actaully get into the undoukai.

In the beginning, just like any school event, we started off by formalities, speeches by the PTA president, the principal, and a few other people. After that, they played the tune to the Japanese national anthem. Everyone stood up and faced the Japanese flag, school flag, and prefectural flag as they were all raised slowly to the sound of the anthem. Then, at the sound of a gun, the festival began and the students marched in scary formation around the track, parading in front of the audience with their colored headband and huge flag with their team color. When they got into position they sat down.

In terms of the games, students did a handful of games including relays and springs of varying distances, a team obstacle run (3 students held a long bar side by side and had to make loops around traffic cones before running back to the next set of 3 students.), a game where they have to try and throw balls into a very tall basket, then games broken up by grade. The first years did a type of Aladdin "Magic Carpet" game where they had to pull the carpet when everyone jumped to try and move while a group of about 25 students were on it. The 2nd year game was jump-rope. The 3rd year game was a game called "The Panic" basically, everyone tied their ankles to a partner to the left and right who was on the same team, then they's stretch out trying to reach a goal point. This one was kind of painful to watch as some of the students went into a split. After that, there was also a game called hajimete no otsukai. It's a game based off a TV show where 1-2 year old kids do errands by themselves for the first time in their life. I'd recommend the show. (Even if you can't understand it, it's still cute to watch). Other than that, there was also a game where teachers were pulled by the student team members in a tire. At certain checkpoints the students would have to pull out of a lottery box and I think they had to pull something out in order to advance or something - I wasn't too sure.

At lunch, the teachers had bentos. If I would have indicated ahead of time, I could've had a bento with them, but I decided to bring my own lunch. I had a Tonkatsu Sandwich, A Roll, and a regular sandwich on white bread. It was actually so casual that the teachers could walk in and out of the teacher's room after they finished, granted they were probably busy managing their team.

After I finished my lunch, and before the undoukai games resumed, I walked around the field and said hi to the many elementary students I have in my elementary schools. Some of them were "stricken with fear" or something because when I asked them "How are you?!" in an energetic tone, he simply let his mom answer. After his mom answered, he still didn't want to answer himself. I recognize the student, and he's actually not as shy in class as he was at that moment. After passing him and almost finishing a half-loop around the field, I ran into some (probably) 5th graders (I didn't recognize them, but I also have many schools to go to and it's fairly infrequent so...). They were really genki and unafraid, probably because they were in a group of about 6 kids. They did proper introductions like, "Hello, my name is ______." but instead of giving their name, they replaced it with a Japanese profanity like some private part. They then asked what that private part meant in English, and I just responded with a, "himitsu," which means secret. By 12:20PM, the games were starting again so I said "See you!" and walked back towards my seat.

When the festival began again, the students performed their cheers before getting into more activities. There were 3 cheers, 1 for each team. The cheers consisted of acknowledging the opposing teams, singing the school song, and then doing a silly dance of their own to sort of rally the crowd. To my surprise, 2 of the 3 teams danced to American songs including the ever so famous Taylor Swift. Red team won my heart. Theirs was so funny. It was also during the songs that I realized where my students got "I'm a perfect human." from (A Japanese song).

Red team's chant was first to acknowldge the other teams, then they danced to One Direction, Taylor Swift (and probably one more that I can't remember) and then chanted their school slogan while holding eachother's hands (emphasis on team work) swinging them back and forth. When they finished, they gathered close together and did a "yay!" jump. Now do you see why they were my favorite?

Just after lunch, a teacher took me with her to take pictures with the students. This was during the specific games for each year (Aladdin, Jump Rope, Panic). We quickly went student by student and took pictures before running back to the seats. She's one of the nicest teachers, but equally busy as all the other teachers.

As the events progressed, the score was kept by students who received papers from folks on the field who reported the statistics. From the students keeping store, the final score and standing was written on a huge board where students and families could view it. By the end of undoukai, white team emerged victorious, followed by green team and then finally red team. Surprisingly, members of the white team started to cry. With that, the undoukai ended.

Just how it began, the undoukai ended with speech from team leaders, the vice principal and a there was a flag ceremony to remove the flag from the pole.

After the festival ended I saw some students that graduated this past April and so I talked with them for a little bit. of the 4 students, 2 of them I recall specifically. They were good kids, but we didn't talk frequently and I don't believe their English level or confidence was very high either. One of the two kids would actually give me high-fives every time I'd pass him in the hall, but like I said, his English was not very good, so we couldn't converse too much. Even now as high school students, the English level isn't increasing at all since the high school they attend don't have an A.L.T. to help with teaching English / English conversations. Anyways, they used to be on the Baseball team in middle school, but were now in the high school's Rugby team (apparently because their Ruby team is very strong). So upon seeing them, I just said "hi" and gave them a few high-fives and kept moving along.

After that, I saw more students that were my 3rd year students last year. These students were in the tennis team during middle school, and were now on the high school's tennis team as well. As I probably mentioned in an earlier blog entry, I didn't have many chances to interact with last year's 3rd years because they were always busy taking exams, but they still greeted me back kindly after I said "hi" to them. I did simple conversation with them and they were all great. It wasn't always in English, but I'd count it as a victory because they didn't seem shy. 2 of the students went to the high school that my students usually feed into, and 2 of the other students went to a high school that is no the other side of town. We held a good conversation in both English and Japanese. I would speak in English, and the one who understood me would translate to Japanese for his friends. We talked about who the strongest tennis player was between the four of them, what university they wanted to go to, a plug about the university I studied abroad at and how it had many foreigners and also a plug about how important English is. Random conversations eventaully had us talking about where my student goes on runs at nights, and the neighborhoods we live in. We talked about the ALTs that each of the students have. One of the freshman went to the school in my neighborhood and so I asked what they thuoght of that ALT. He now goes to a highs chool on the opposite end of town and I asked about how the other ALT there, named Tiffany, is. He said that he hasn't gotten many classes with her so I told him to ask his English teacher to bring her more by saying "Tiffany, come on!". "_______, come on!" is a popular phrase among students for whatever reason. It's not the best English but it gets the point across. I asked if they had their undoukai yet and they said, "no."

We almost got as adding eachother on a social network, but ultimately we decided not to. I claimed it'd be good English practice, and he could ask me any English questions, but he responded saying that it'd probably take him a full day to write something in English since he'd have to look everything up. Ultimately, I agreed not to because I felt that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to do unless the said student was really REALLY passionate about practicing English as much as he/she could.

--Undoukai Finished. Part 2: Enkai To Be Continued--

(Day 167) Winter Term Opening Ceremony - My Impression

Today is the first day of the winter term; it marks the first day of school and the official end of winter break for students. As for us ALTs, we have been in back at work since January 3rd, unless you took more nenkyuu days (Paid Time Off).

The day started off with a genki "Ohayou Gozaimasu!" as I entered the shokuin-shitsu (teacher's room). As I walked to my desk, I said hello (alternating between Japanese and English) to several teachers including my English teachers and handed out omiyage from Okinawa shortly after.

I gave them chinsukou which is an Okinawan cookie and made small talk with several of my teachers, telling them about my trip in Okinawa.

Following this, we proceeded to the taiikukan (gymnasium) for the school's opening ceremony - this was my impression.

As I walked into the gymnasium, all the students were already seated silently. The chairs that they sat in were chairs from their homerooms - they carried each of their chairs from homeroom to the gymnasium. Shortly after, the vice-principal arrived and the speeches began.

My impression right off the bat was that there was an extreme level of order in Japanese junior high schools. The teachers seemed like sharks, staggered and surrounding the area where the students sat in order to maintain order and make sure the students did not misbehave during the ceremony. The students would always have their eyes forward, sitting properly during the entirety of the ceremony.

One teacher would announce to the students when to bow, when to stand, and when to sit. The students would bow every time a teacher or student gave a speech, and would be told to stand before they started singing the school's anthem (which happened about 3 times total - once for practice, once for the beginning of the assembly, and once more at the end).

The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes and consisted of the school's anthem, speeches by each of the grade's representatives, a quick award ceremony for two students, a speech by the principal, and a speech by one more teacher followed by the school anthem once more.

The first practice round was led by one of the teachers who had an amazing voice. She told the students when to open their mouth wider or hold a note. Afterwards, the "real" song was conducted by a student, and accompanied by another  student who played the piano.

When the ceremony ended the second-year students and third-year students stood up, took their chairs, and walked out of the gymnasium in, once again, an orderly fashion followed by the first-year students. They all proceeded out of the gym via one organized line, 2 columns wide.

It was impressive, but I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when the teachers would hover over the students because while it is important for students to pay attention, it seems that they were on lock down or something - it all seemed very authoritarian. In the end though, it's merely a cultural difference. I need to think to myself whether or not this way is better than the way we have assemblies in teh U.S. because Japanese assemblies are very orderly, which is better than disorder I suppose.

Also, the gym was freezing. After the ceremony some of the teachers ran to the radiator to warm up as soon as they got back into the teacher's room. Winter's in full force.

Snapshot Saturday #9 - The Tsugaru Jamisen「The 津軽三味線」Show (12/12)

As I sat at my desk, nodding off, with all the time in the world and after two poorly prepared classes on certain teachers' parts, I made an executive decision to update my blog for this past Saturday's Snapshot Saturday post. So here I am!

This Saturday I was fortunate enough to watch Hide and also Shonda's Tsugaru Jamisen rehearsal since the tickets were unfortunately all sold out.

The show was at 4:00PM, and doors opened for practice at 9:00AM so we had to leave Aomori City by 7:00AM. Since I wasn't watching the actual show, I stayed with them from 7:00am when Hide picked us up, until around 2:30pm when I caught a train back to Aomori.

I was actually a bit late to the car because of some drinking escapades with friends the prior night and because I stayed in bed a bit too long. I wasn't able to eat breakfast either for that same reason, but at the moment I wasn't hungry. Before actually getting on the main route, Hide stopped by a konbini and I was able to grab an onigiri, or rice ball. After a while, we arrived at the venue, which was just next to Hirosaki castle, at around 8:25AM. It was a beautiful, clear day, but we were all quite cold. It was a while before the people who worked there opened the doors for us so we had to gaman (ENG: persevere) through it.

At around 8:50, the doors opened. From there, we were herded into a medium sized room with chairs and long desks. There were about 50 or more folks in the room with their beautiful tsugaru jamisen, and among the mostly older crowd there were actually some kids -- even as young as 7!

The performers numbered at around a few hundred and they filled the stage and played in almost perfect unison. The Tsugaru Shamisen has a very deep sound so it was pretty cool to hear 500 people play it.

I'll upload photos....eventually...maybe.... if I ever get back to this post.

Snapshot Saturday #8 - 「座禅」Zen Meditation in Asamushi (12/5)

All photo credits go to Hide-san!

This past Saturday we were invited by our wonderful friend, Hide, to participate in zazen (座禅; Zen Meditation) in the neighboring city of Asamushi, which hugs the coast just like Aomori and is famous for its onsen.

(L-R) Sasha, Kelsey, Me.
I knew about 10% of what the buddhist monk/our instrutor was saying. Hide sat on the far right of us while we sat in the smack middle of the group of about 10-15 other participants so we couldn't ask him to translate. All of our Japanese language ability is not too hot.

Another photo prior to the actual meditation. The buddhist monk was explaiing the meaning behind the tapestry. From the little that I understood, he explained that the golden character in the center wasn't even Japanese - it's in fact a sanskrit character. 

The monk gave each of us a pinch of this brown, aromatic powder that we used to rub on our hands, then our shoulders, arms, and legs.

Keenly listening. Or at least, trying to listen.

A good shot of half the room. Behind the monk was a section full of  golden buddha statues, incense, religious items in display boxes, etc. It was such a beautiful room.

This was the room that we waited in before and after the meditation session. Post-meditation we were treated to green tea and a cookie. And yes, it was snowy and cold outside.

A photo from the other end of the table for perspective.

In the end I'd say it was a very peaceful, relaxing experience. Like I said, I regrettably couldn't understand about 90% of what the Monk was saying, and I didn't have any help to translate during the session, so it was difficult to follow his instructions - I had to awkwardly glance while the whole room was meditating to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Kelsey and Sasha had this same problem.

In regards to zazen session itself, we started with the brown powder that we rubbed in our hands, arms, and legs. Following that, we went into that difficult "criss-cross" type zen style seating, which quickly turned uncomfortable and cut off blood circulation to my legs. Luckily, during instructions he said it was fine if we didn't sit this way, but I tried my best. We spent a short while gazing at the tapestry while we took deep breathes. We then went in the classic buddhist pose with both hands resting in our lap and forming a circle with our index finger and thumb. We then "ohmed" for a few minutes.

Following the session, he asked us two questions (1) Did anyone of us fall asleep? (I think it was preferred if we were able to) and (2) Did anyone of us see the sanskrit character on the tapestry move? (It was supposed to move apparently).

All in all, it was definitely interesting. I said I'd try it again, but it was unanimous among us ALTs that we'd want to know the significance and meaning and instructions behind zazen before doing it again.

Tuna Sashimi Donburi set meal - 2,400 Yen. We split it.

after zazen we visited a foot bath where we soaked for a good 20 minutes, and then ate at a locally famous restaurant where I ordered Fried Squid Tempura meal set - we shared what was basically a Maguro (Tuna) mountain rice bowl. From here we made a few more pitstops, and made our way back to Aomori City.

The foot bath that we soaked in for a good while. We met two other Japanese folks who were alreaky soaking their feet and since I had my backpack I pulled out some optical illusions that I printed out for my students, and showed them to my friends, and then ultimately, the two Japanese strangers as well.